26. Bronson

brONSON

I wentinto protective mode at her words.

She didn't have to tell me who she was talking about. I could sense it from the way her body trembled with terror and her face paled.

Instinct had me dragging her into my side and pulling her behind one of the cruisers that was at the scene. My eyes searched the road, the hillside below and above us on the opposite side of the street, but the darkness made it difficult to see anything.

"Gies!" I bellowed, trying to get my partner"s attention. "I need your help, now!"

He raced over. "What's up?"

"Whoever wrote that damn note is the one that caused this mess and he just called Lake. He is close. Get everyone to spread out and comb the area, not leaving a stone unturned." My jaw clenched as rage ripped through me. "It's the same guy who has been harassing my girl too."

I heard her suck in a breath. I would deal with that in a minute, but right then, I needed someone trying to find the bastard.

Gies's eyes flashed with anger. "I'm on it." Before he took off he nodded and I knew he understood that while I'd like to be hunting the motherfucker down, I wasn't leaving Lake's side.

Just then, Huntley rushed forward, sensing something big happening. "What the hell is happening?"

I was aware that he knew about the person who'd been calling Lake and who also broke into her home. He and I had also spoken when we ran into one another at No Surrender. So when I repeated what I had just told Gies, I knew he also would be all over it.

Huntley"s facial expression was menacing and I knew whoever did those he cared about wrong would be in a shitload of trouble. I was happy he was a friend of Lake's.

"Goddamnit!" he yelled before taking off, clearly wanting to find the asshole as much as I did.

He was out there and I knew that the note we had found on the big rock was meant for her. I didn't want to tell her but I had to. She had to know how much things had escalated. Whoever was after Lake had just taken it to the next level and he didn't care who he hurt in the process.

I kept saying it was a man on the phone because that was what it sounded like, but we couldn't be sure of anything. There could also be more than one person involved.

One person after the woman that meant everything to me was one too many.

"What did you find over there?" Lake asked, almost as if she'd read my thoughts.

Bringing her down toward the ground so we were squatting low, shielded between the car and her ambulance parked next to one another, I ran a finger softly down the side of her face.

"Sweetheart..." Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out. "There is a rock on the side of the road and it has a message on it."

She frowned, the skin between her brows wrinkling as she did. Her eyes closed for a second and then she opened them, meeting mine.

"What did it say?"

"It said, ‘Let"s see if you can do your job this time.'"

Lake nodded as if that made sense and then she repeated everything the bastard said to her on the phone. Someone was clearly out of their mind and it had something to do with her job it appeared.

"Daniel told me in the ambulance before they took them away that someone stood in the middle of the street and threw something at them, causing him to swerve." The grip she had on the hand I still held tightened. "I try so hard, but I can't always save everyone."

She had proven just how much she cared and how much heart she put into her job. While I'd been scared to death when I looked down the hill and saw her next to the car, I was also so fucking proud of her. The vehicle could have slid on top of her at any moment, but she'd refused to leave because someone was inside that needed her.

I was wrong when she'd come up to the road to try and tell her to do anything different than her best or what she felt like she had to do. Even if it felt like I'd lost ten years of my life as I watched her.

There was a buzz of activity going on around us and I could hear people shouting. Some I saw combing the area below, but my main focus was the beautiful soul next to me and she needed to hear what I had to say.

"This is not your fault, baby. Whatever is going on we will figure this out." I pulled our joined hands to my chest where my heart pounded. "You are phenomenal at your job, I saw that tonight and the best person I know."

I let go of her hand and cupped her face in my palms.

"This may not be the best time to say this or the most romantic. I'd been saving it for our date, but I think you need to hear this."

Lake's eyes opened wide and I physically saw her intake of breath. She held it waiting.

"I love you, Cupcake. I've always loved you, but it's grown to so much more and I hope you will feel the same one day."

Her breath swooshed from her lungs and a tear trickled down her face.

"I do."

"You do?" I questioned, afraid I wasn't understanding.

Her other tears glistened in the moonlight but she gave me a soft smile.

"I love you too," she said softly.

With people buzzing all around us investigating the scene and cleaning stuff up, I dropped to my ass, pulling her onto my lap as I went. Again, so not appropriate while on the clock but they could fire me if they didn't like it.

I was going to hold my girl.

My best friend and lover.

And one day I hoped to be my wife.

Some people may say this was moving incredibly fast but I let too many years with Lake go already. If she would have me, and Stormi too, I wasn't going to waste any more.

We already felt like a family, I just needed to make it official.

Maybe I should at least take her on that date first.